What is sexual desire? -There’s no physiological index for sexual desire -We are reliant on self report data for sexual desire -Issues w self report data: biased recall, over or under reporting -Index questions to ask: how often have you had sex? Frequency of masturbation? Sexual thought frequency? -men think about sex and fantasize a lot more than women do -sexual fantasies for women decline throuought the duration of the relationship Rosemary basson: women dont spend a lot of time seeking out sex, women are generally in a sexually neutral state… not spending mass amounts of time thinking about sex, but neutral -State of sexual receptivity (openness) -ask questions not just relating to sex: how much time do you spend seeking out sexual material, how often do you spend time planning sexual activity. -university of british columbia -popular study question to ask- ”in the past two weeks, how often have you desired sexual activity?” -put forth a new model of female sexual response that depicts sexual response as more circular than linear, with many physical and contextual cues prompting desire and arousal and many points of entry. -accounts spontaneous desire and experience of the many women who report that they engage in sex feeling neutral and experience desire only after they are physiologically aroused. -effective more for males sexual response - made by William Masters and Virginia Johnson -sexual queues increase sexual desire -arousal comes first, then desire, then orgasm, then resolution -women relate more to a more circular model Mcall and Metson(2006) -asked 50 women (age 18-67) what makes you desire sexual activity: -sexual activity: kissing, petting, intercourse, oral sex, masturbation -generated 125 independednt queues Emotional bonding cues -feeling a sense of love with a partner -feeling a sense of commitment form a partner -experiencing emotional closeness with a partner -your partner expresses interest in hearing about you Explicit or erotic cues -Watching an erotic movie -Reading about sexual activity -Talking about sexual activity -Having a sexual fantasy Visual proximity cues -seeing someone who is classy or well dressed -Seeing someone confident -Intelligence -Being in close proximity with attractinve people -Talking with someone powerful Romantic implicit cues -Dancing closely -Touching partners hair or face -Having romantic dinner with a romantic partner -Laughing with a romantic partner Sex horomones Androgens( testosterone) androgen is umbrella term, tesoterone is a kind of androgen -estrogen(estradiol, exterone) -progesterone men: produced mainly by the testes, also adrenal glands Women: produced mainly by the ovaries, also adrenal glands Hormonal aspects of desire: men -estrogen (E) and progesterone (P) little effect -high levels of E inhibits desire among offenders - there is huge variability in men’s testosterone levels -men need a certain amount of testosterone to have sexual desire and maintain an errection -men need more testosterone to produce viable sperm -The average healthy male has a shit ton of testosterone -certain levels of testosterone dont really tell us much about sex drive -hormones can only be read if attached to a receptor -we are limited by the number of receptors we have…partly genetic Androgens(testosterone) play an important role -man on a remote island in Australia(nature, 1970) -if men are below critical testosterone, low sex drive Australia study: man spent a lot of time on remote island, didnt have much beard growth, off island he had more beard growth -collected all of his beard shavings in shaver -daily he would get a brush and take out hairs and he would weigh them each day -when he was in isolation, low levels of beard growth -higher level of testosterone influences beard growthL exercising loses testosteron, frustration creases -had an affair so beard grew -anticipating sex increases testosterone -excess testosterone just leaves the system, flushed out in urine, sweat, ect HORMONAL ASPECTS OF DESIRE: MEN -castration decreases sexual interest- reversed T replacement -in adult males, variability in circulating T not linked to levels of sexual desire -castration used to be european sex offender punishment Hormones and sexual desire -estrogen peaks during ovulation -ovulation mid cycle makes women horny -Progesterone peaks after ovulation peak -progesterone gets uterus ready for fertility -if not fertilized, progesterone plummets and sheds (period) Hormonal aspects of desire: women E and P play minimal role in sexual desire Menopause lowers estrogen and vaginal lubrication and can make sex painful -some evidence for increase in sexual activity mid-cycle when T levels are high -”normal:” range free T women aged 18-46 is 1.3 to 6.8 picograms milliter -beginning at puberty, male testes produce somewhere between 3– to 1,000 picograms per milliliter -oophorectomy decreases desire, restored with T -some women have low drive because of low levels of testosterone, but most women have it bc nothing to do w testosterone -does sexual anticipation increase T in women as it does in men? -long distance monogamous relationship study(hamilton and meston, 2010) -recent evidence oral contraceptives decrease T impair desire -OCs that desogestrel or Norgestimate especially bad -sexual desire influenced by T but androgens alone not sufficient for sexual desire -studies failed to find sig diff T levels between women with/without clinically diagnosed HSSD -androgen antagonists do not consistently suppress libido in women Aphrodisiac -everyone looking for magical aphrodisiac -herbs that increase natural bloodflow to genitals -yams have a lot of testosterone -oysters, clams, ground animal parts in chinese medicine -most effective via placebo -rarer and more expensive, greater placebo -altoids enhance sexual experience -taking a placebo changes expectation -antidepressants cause weight gain and sexual problems -some serotonin subtypes play a role on sexual desire -many prescription drugs impair desire and performance -antidepressants but newer generation (Serzone, wellbutrin, celexa) few side effects -antihistamines for allergies dry out mucous membranes in vaginal tissue Alcohol and desire: alcohol/recreational drugs can disinhibit mechanisms but impair performance Aging and sexual desire -older people on more meds that impact sex desire -loss of partner, effects of smoking over time, impair sexual desire -while some women show decreases in sex drive upon menopause, a lot did not -some women increase sex drive as they get older, likely because they get new sexual partner - DR ellison: men who are in committed relationships have 21% lower testosterone levels - T-levels of married men and men in committed relationships did not differ -married men with kids have 42% lower T 4. T levels drop about 1% per year Learning to lust -Women have been looking for a female equivalent to viagra -the essentially mechanical boost to erection that the drug provides, by pumping more blood to the penis, doesn't do a thing for females -most common sexual complaint—voiced by 40 percent of women in large-scale surveys—is low libido. Desire turns out to be a much more elusive companion to arousal. -research on female viagra has shown that it’s an extremely complex study -has also spurred nearly as much ideological debate, some of which has actually helped guide research in productive ways. -There are clinicians and academics—many of them female and feminist—who contend that disorders of desire are manufactured by drug companies to create markets for products that are unneeded because women's libido problems come from the way society views female sexuality. Others believe that desire problems have real, if poorly understood, roots in biology and that more research might yield good treatments. Many feel that assumptions of male-female sexual equivalency have at best hampered research and at worst led to erroneous adoption of male experiences of arousal and performance as the standards for women as well. -scientists agree that: gender stereotypes seem to hold, men have more frequency and intensity in desire, Sexual desire in women is less directly tied to physical arousal than it is in men -sexual desire has more to do with emotional connection and surroundings as well as self esteem -women may be able to learn how to feel desire Lines and Circles: Diagrams of Desire 1966 Masters and Johnson: Human Sexual Response -focused on functioning of the genital equipment without even addressing the matter of desire. -1970 book, Human Sexual Inadequacy -viewed biological equipment problems as the cause of impotence and failure to achieve orgasm.(Orgasm is associated with the release in the brain of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which facilitates the experience of pleasure. In addition, the brain releases the hormone oxytocin, and it reinforces feelings of love and attachment. Other neurochemical changes induce alternations in pain sensation, a state of relaxation, and positive mood.) -Helen Singer Kaplan -opened the country's first sex therapy clinic in New York - put forth a model of sexuality in which genital excitement and orgasm were preceded by desire. -introduced the idea of disorders of desire, and the term hypoactive sexual desire took up residence in the diagnostic bible, the DSM. -sexual desire varies from person to person and same person over the course of a relationship. -Low sexual desire: becomes a diagnosable condition only when it diminishes the quality of one's life and creates distress, or when a disparity arises in the sex drives of partners, evolving into a matter of unresolved contention in the relationship. -The single biggest psychological cause of hypoactive sexual desire may be depression. Fatigue is up there, too, and a highly stressful lifestyle can have an impact on sex drive. People who have body image problems may also experience a lack of sexual desire. Decreased sexual desire is a well-established and common side effect of treatment with antidepressant drugs. -counseling is best treatment Sexual desire in men -believed to be more biologically driven among men than among women. -spontaneous and generally considered the first step toward intimate feelings and behavior. -Loss of sexual desire and sexual inhibition more common among women -For men, heavy alcohol consumption. Erectile dysfunction, performance anxiety, medical conditions, medications, and stress can all diminish sexual desire. Sexual desire in women -more complex and more fragile than it is in males. -Generally more variable, and women may find themselves more easily turned off, depending on their hormonal state, how they feel about themselves and their partners, and other events in their lives, to say nothing of a partner's lovemaking style and technique. -sexual desire is lower among females than among males, so a further drop in female desire for any reason may be more problematic in relationships. -female sexuality is multifactorial -women often do not experience desire until after they are genitally aroused, and arousal may require an extended period of foreplay. The relationship thing -in 1996, researchers reported that 35% of women but only 13 percent of men cited love and emotional intimacy as goals of sexual desire -70% of men, versus 43 % of women, said that sex in and of itself was the goal of sexual desire. -Marta Meana at the University of Nevada Las Vegas: it's possible to overemphasize the importance of relationships to desire in women -found that relationships can have a dampening effect on desire and sex for both genders—and as relationships progress, desire declines -"If safety, comfort, love, and respect were as facilitative to female sexual desire as some of the relationally focused literature claims, then we should not see as many married women in happy relationships complaining of low desire," - a lot of biased research because it surveys college students -Cidny meston: "In the early stages of relationships, the infatuation stage, people can't get enough sex," -people in the early stages of falling in love have brain serotonin levels as low as those seen in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder which is why you can’t stop thinking about that one person -drops in desire causes more problems in a relationship when it occurs in a woman, Domesticity Can Be Dangerous -Ester Perel, a couples' therapist in New York and author of Mating in Captivity: -Good intimacy doesn't always guarantee good sex, -The very elements that nurture love—reciprocity, mutuality, protection, closeness, emotional security, predictability are things that stifle desire needs space and distance to thrive. -in committed relationships,women tend to take care of men and so the men become a family member—and sex with family members is taboo -discourse of desire:nobody is taking care of anybody. People take care of each other as an act of love; desire requires that they don't need you -Journal of Sexual and Marital Therapy, Meana documented a decline in sexual desire among 19 married women. -roles as wives, mothers, and professionals were not only overwhelming but highly desexualizing -"desire may be driven to the same extent as it is in men by novelty and excitement and a stranger thinking they are hot." The chosen one -the idea of being desired is a turn on -women yearn to be uniquely desired -Women want a commitment because it signals they are uniquely desired. But after a commitment has been made, its meaning changes. -women often get distracted during sex -In a study of 154 women just published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, Cindy Meston concluded that women who had low esteem and thought about physical appearance during sex had less satisfying sex and were more distressed about their entire sex lives. A Mind-Body Gap -women worry about surroundings during sex such as if kids are asleep, who might hear, if they have responsibilities, etc -Women generally experience less corolation than men do between what goes on in their heads and what goes on in their loins. -until recently, physical arousal and the feelings of sexual attraction were thought to be corolated, but just because there’s physical reactions, but dosent necessarily correlate to sexual arousal -high rates of orgasm during sex have high concordance rates of genital and subjective arousal. The more that mind and genitalia are in sync, the less problematic a woman's sex life seems to be. -The longer women watched erotic videos, Chivers found, the more concordance they experienced. This is why women need more foreplay -Chivers says arousal concordance differs between men and women bc of biology,men are more in tune with what is going on in their bodies than women are (they have more interoceptive awareness and more aware of their own heart rate) Going to Bed with Buddha Lori Brotto: University of British Columbia sex researcher -"We know a desynchrony exists where the genitals are doing one thing and the mind another, and this has a bearing on sexual response. So if we can teach women to bridge the gap between mind and body -Journal of Sexual Medicine reports that 150 women experienced higher levels of sexual desire after being trained in her 4-step program of mindfulness specifically geared to enhancing sexual pleasure. The program made them more “lubricated” -bringing the mind in synchrony with the body is the best sexual enhancer for women Lori Brotto has devised and tested a program to increase sexual responsiveness in women with sexual complaints, including low desire. A major component draws on Buddhist principles of mindfulness to reconnect the mind with the body's sensations. 1. Women first learn the basics of mindfulness in a nonsexual context. The goal is to guide the mind back to the present whenever distracting thoughts arise. Using an object like a penny or a raisin, slowly explore the way it feels, looks, smells, tastes. When your mind starts to wander, gently guide it back to focus on the object. Practice this exercise 10 minutes a day while engaged in some other activity, like walking, eating a meal, or washing the dishes. You can also practice a more traditional meditation: Close your eyes, remain silent, and focus simply on your breath. 2. Next, women learn to examine their bodies in a nonsexual way without generating distress. The aim is to lessen distractions by judgment of physical appearance during sex. Look at your body while showering, bathing, or drying yourself. Notice when judgments arise and guide your mind back to just looking at your body. Repeat the exercise next using a hand-held mirror to look at your body and genitals. Then touch your body and genitals in a nonsexual manner while being aware of judgments and guiding attention back to what you are doing. 3. Women repeat the body-focused exercise, but this time with a shift in sexual attitude. The goal is to help women change the way they look at their body and enjoy sensations in a sexual way. Tell yourself that "my body is sexual," "I am a sexual person," "I enjoy my sexuality," and repeat the mindfulness exercise from step 2. 4. Last, women learn to connect bodily arousal and emotional pleasure. Use a vibrator, look at erotica, or fantasize about sex to deliberately arouse your body. Stop after about five minutes. Then perform a mindfulness exercise to fully tune into the sensations. Desire Regained Lori Brottos program for women: Step 1: learn mindfulness in non sexual context, learn to focus when your mind starts to wander Step 2: learn to nonsexually examine the body without distress, this is to lessen distractions by judgment of physical appearance during sex. Touch body nonsexually Step 3: repeat the body-focused exercise, but this time with a shift in sexual attitude. The goal is to help women change the way they look at their body and enjoy sensations in a sexual way. Practice positive affirmations Step 4:learn to connect bodily arousal and emotional pleasure. Aka use a vibrator, watch porn etc Making Sex Normal -Debby herbenick- sex researcher and educator -Worked at kinsey institute in 1999 -bad outcomes of a society that doesnt talk about sex: when sex is treated as being abnormal, doctors dont talk about sex, therefore we don’t know consequences of sexual side affects -people are insensitive and inaccurate about sex topics -30% of women in the U.S report some degree of pain when they have sex -we don’t know whats true or false about sex -editor of most respected writer in the country refused to let her writer cover this story because “if that was true, we would know because women would be talking about this Debby’s idea: make sex normal by openly read sex positive books, celebrate sexual diversity by going to sexual art events like pride, watch realistic and nuance views of sex movies, talk about sex with nurses, parents etc. watch a sex positive video and post in on facebook, go more public, wear sex positive t shirts, share the waiting room i.e add posters and magazines about sex, make space for sex, bloomington sex salon is for sex researchers, support sex arts like small businesses, embrace real and sex in bodies Question asked: what do people like about sex? Men response: “it's a a very plesant activity we started 40 years ago to improve the marriage. Woman response: feeling completely loved like i was the only woman he wanted to be with. The science of sexual arousal -Men and women expierience sexual arousal differently physiologically and psychologically -researchers who are studying arousal -physicians are approaching sexual dysfunction as a largely biological phenomenon -in the DSM-IV and ICD-10, FSD(female sexual dysfunctio) is classified into: ● Desire disorder, a persistent absence of desire for sexual activity. ● Arousal disorder, a persistent inability to attain or maintain sufficient sexual excitement. ● Orgasm disorder, a persistent difficulty, delay or absence of orgasm after sufficient stimulation. ● Pain disorder, persistent genital pain associated with sexual intercourse or stimulation. -any definition of sexual function or dysfunction should acknowledge that women's "sex scripts" are variable. - 43 percent of the 1,749 women interviewed by researchers reported experiencing such events as a lack of interest in sex, inability to achieve orgasm and trouble lubricating in the past year, compared with 31 percent of men. -A disorder is only a disorder if it causes stress. Archives of Sexual Behavior by John Bancroft, MD, finds that only 24 percent of women said their problems distressed them. Rosen, a co-author of the JAMA study, challenges this -Women's sexual problems are seldom medically based, they propose. Rather, they more often are attributable to: ● Sociocultural, political or economic factors, such as inadequate sex education or fatigue from family and work obligations. ● Partner and relationship problems, including discrepancies in desire for sexual activity and loss of interest due to conflicts over commonplace issues. ● Psychological factors, such as past abuse, depression or fear of pregnancy. -A lot of people ignore the risks of STDs -Tom Coates: PhD, director of the Center for AIDS Prevention(CAPS) -"People live longer and reasonably well with antiviral medications. So prevention in this era becomes more complex than in previous eras when HIV was viewed as more deadly and scary." - researchers examined sexual risk-taking in more than 1,500 men through a two-year study--currently being reviewed for publication--by the Kinsey Institute, an Indiana University center for human sexuality research.study shows that personality traits--such as sensation-seeking, sexual inhibition and excitation, mood, and assertiveness--play a role in decisions to take risks. -Erick Janssen: PhD, psychologist and associate scientist at the Kinsey Institute. Says in men, depressive people and attention seeking are more likely to engage in risky sex behavior -psychologist Susan Kegeles, PhD, and the late Robert Hays, PhD: created a program: intervention to reduce risky sex is the Mpowerment Project, a community-based HIV prevention program for 18-to 29-year-old gay or bisexual men.Participants were surveyed twice, once after finishing the nine-month intervention and again a year later -the number of participants who engaged in unprotected anal intercourse dropped from 41 percent to 30 percent; 20 percent to 11 percent with nonprimary partners; and 59 percent to 45 percent with boyfriends. The results were documented in the American Journal of Public Health -three-session PARTNERS Project--supported by the CDC and targeted to women 18-25 years old and their partners--emphasizes that there may be sexual risks no matter how long the relationship. -Erick Janssen: PhD, a psychologist at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University. Says "It's easier to get funding for research that focuses on, let's say, AIDS-related sexual behaviors, than for research on the very fundamental question of what sexual motivation and sexual arousal really are," Cognition and arousal -Boston University psychologist David Barlow, PhD, and his colleagues conducted a series of studies to examine the relationship between anxiety and sexual arousal. They found that men with and without sexual problems reacted very differently to anxiety-inducing threats of mild electric shock. -Men who reported having no trouble getting and maintaining erections would believe that they were going to get shocked if they didn't get aroused, so they would focus on the erotic scene. - The result was that the threat of shock increased sexual arousal. men who had sexual problems responded to the threat of shock very differently. Their attention would be so focused on the negative outcomes that they wouldn't be able to process the erotic cues. -Kinsey Institute, Janssen and John Bancroft, MD, the institute's director, made theoretical model and a set of measurement tools that define sexual arousal as the product of excitatory and inhibitory tendencies. -Sexual Inhibition and Sexual Excitation Scale (SES):questionnaire that measures individual differences in the tendency to become sexually inhibited and excited. -two inhibitory factors:one that represents inhibition due to the threat of performance failure (SIS1) and one that represents inhibition due to the threat of such performance consequences as an unwanted pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease (SIS2). Physiological and subjective arousal -Meston: What we find in research in males is there's a very high correlation between their erectile response and how aroused they say they are, But in women we get low, if any, correlations." -Laan and her collaborators at the University of Amsterdam have found no evidence that women getting upset from erotics can account for the physiology-experience gap. -In men there's a very high correlation between their erectile response and how aroused they say they are, But in women we get low, if any correlations. - the sex difference could also have important implications for the treatment of female sexual dysfunction, -women are less likely than men to talk honestly about their sexuality because of sexual taboos. But Meston says she sees no evidence of reticence in the women who volunteer for her studies. An open question is whether the resulting sex differences in the relationship between physiological and subjective arousal are permanent, or whether they can be changed through training. Meston says her lab is currently conducting a study to find that out. -there is no evidence that porn evokes a negative reaction in women -the difference probably has something to do with the fact that male genital arousal is simply easier to notice than female genital arousal. Men also seem to be more attentive than women to all kinds of physiological signals, not just sexual ones Why people have sex -Some reasons women report having sex: to clear complexion, it gets rid of migrains, to relieve boredom, easier than fighting, something to do, i feel sorry for them. -women are more complicated than men in sex, they get easily aroused -measuring sexual response in the lab: subject is in comfortable room with a TV that is playing porn, observer is in the next room. Porn for women is produced by women for women. They have nicer lighting and well put together and have a plot -measure women's genital arousal using a vaginal photo play seismograph. has a small light source sediment which shines into the vagina and measures the amount of light reflected back so when a women is sexually aroused theres more bloodflow in her genital and less light is reflected back -we measure mens sexual arousal in men by using a penile strain gauge which is a device placed around the penis in a non erect state and as he becomes around it puts resistance onto the strain gauge and it’s an indirect measure of bloodlfow in the genitals -why is it that mens psychological and physical are so connected? Mens penisis are more shown, there’s more tissue in a penis so theres more blood flow and signal. Men are comfortable handling their penis at a young age. -when women have more blood flow into the vagina, they may not notice and its easy to ignore and weaker from a psychological standpoint -when a woman is ovulating she looks for more masculine men -women rate smell the most important component in picking a male -women can detect MHC compatibility(immune system functioning, has healthier children) through smell of men -women can detect physical symmetry through smell -the more symmetrical a man is, the more attractive their scent is -in men humor and confidence are very important -some women have sex to intentionally give men STDs -some women have sex to get closer to god -some women like revenge sex -some women like competition sex -some women have bored sex -some women are curious about trying lots of different types of men in bed -some women are searching sexuality -some women have transactional sex -some women have sex as a duty when there is mismatch in sex drive -mate poaching occurs because oftentimes the very desirable mates have already been taken so women develop a strategy of luring away already taken mates -women have sex for health benefits -some women have sex for love -Love motives: get love, steal love, protect love, or get over love -women like men who are liked by other women A little-told tale of sex and sensuality With researcher Shereen El Feki -If you really want to know a people, start by looking inside their bedrooms," says Shereen El Feki, who traveled through the Middle East for five years, talking to people about sex. -Sex lies at the heart of an emerge epidemic in Middle East and North Africa, where HIV and AIDS are on the rise. -3 red lines in the vast and varied Arab world that you aren’t supposed to challenge in word or deed: -Politics. But uprisings have been blossoming since 2011. Millions are pushing against the government for a better future -religion: but now religion and politics are connected -sex: the only accepted context for sex is marriage approved by parents, registered by state, sanctioned by religion -Faiza: a young unmarried mother in morocco. She showed photos of her son and told the whole story of his conception. She then claimed to be a virgin with two medical certificates to prove it. She chose non vaginal sex to avoid female genital mutilation. mother helped her flee her father and brothers. This is because honor killings are a real threat for untold numbers of women in the Arab region. “Her virginity statement was not a piece of wishful thinking. Although the major religions of the region extoll premarital chastity, in a patriarchy, boys will be boys. Men have sex before marriage, and people more or less turn a blind eye. Not so for women, who are expected to be virgins on their wedding night -- that is, to turn up with your hymen intact. This is not a question of individual concern, this is a matter of family honor, and in particular, men's honor. -in egypt, There are legions of young men who can't afford to get married, because marriage has become a very expensive proposition. They are expected to bear the burden of costs in married life, but they can't find jobs. This is one of the major drivers of the recent uprisings, and it is one of the reasons for the rising age of marriage in much of the Arab region. -the Encyclopedia of Pleasure: -covers sex from aphrodisiacs to zoophilia, -Arabic erotica 10 things you didn't know about orgasm Orgasm: a reflex of the autonomic nervous system, aka things we cant control like digestion, heart rate, arousal. . Orgasms can be caused by a number of other things besides genitals: Some examples and cases: genital stimulation, eyebrow stroking, spinal cord injuries, paraplegias, quadriplegias, knee orgasms, teeth brushing orgasm.Some people can even think themselves to orgasm. The Headquarters for orgasm along the spinal nerve is Called the aural nerve root. You can trigger the nerve root when you’re brain dead, therefore you can have orgasms when you are dead( if on a respirator). .Orgasms can cause bad breath. . Orgasms can cure hiccups in the early 1900s, doctors once prescribed orgasm for fertility. They thought orgasms sucked the semen through the cervix into the egg. Called the up suck theory. Masters and Johnson in the 1950s debunked this. British sexologist Roy Levin has speculated that orgasm may boost fertility for men, sperm that sit around for a week or more in the body develop abnormalities that make them less effective, so that’s why they are frequent masturbators -“up suck” works on pigs. There’s a 5 point simulation plan. -female animals have more fun than you think with orgasms. We cant always read their pleasure -Studying human orgasm in a lab is not easy. Women’s orgasms happen on the inside. Masters and Johnson developed an artificial coition machine: a penis camera on a motor -it is entertaining to study orgasms. Alfred Kinsey calculated the average distance traveled by ejaculated semen. Reopening the Case of the Female Orgasm According to Cindy Meston and her colleagues: “Female orgasm is a variable, transient peak sensation of intense pleasure, creating an altered state of consciousness, usually with an initiation accompanied by involuntary, rhythmic contractions of the pelvic striated circumvaginal musculature, often with concomitant uterine and anal contractions and myotonia that resolves the sexually induced vasocongestion (sometimes only partially), generally with an induction of well-being and contentment.” -Unlike men, women don’t need to have an orgasm in order to propagate their genes. -from a biological perspective, the “adaptive function” of the female orgasm is still hotly contested -Stephen J. Gould: claimed that it serves no purpose at all, but is instead only a quirky, functionless by-product of the ejaculatory response in males. Wrote “Male Nipples and Clitoral Ripples” -Donald Symons 1979 argument:in embryological development, males and females share the same basic body plan. some of the shared connective tissue and nervous system pathways in females were “accidentally” shaped for pleasure by evolution, too, leading happily to the occasional orgasm in sexually mature females. -philosopher Elisabeth Lloyd advocated for this theory -she wrote The Case of the Female Orgasm (Harvard University Press, 2005). -was roasted by many evolutionary thinkers because of the feminist undertones in her writing. she argues that female carnal bliss(orgasm) has been liberated from the ugly realities of reproductive biology. -basically shes saying theres more to sex than just baby making, and women get to enjoy things for themselves too Question posed: is there possible adaptive function of female orgasm? Clue # 1: Twin-based evidence shows that orgasm frequency has a modest hereditable component. That is to say, uncomfortable as it may be to think of your flushed-faced grandmother writhing and moaning in ecstasy, there is a definite genetic contribution to female orgasm. (To help “unsee” these unsettling images shivering on the branches of your family tree, think on the bright side: female orgasms tend to decrease with age, so we’re talking mostly about only young, still-hot grandmas.) Hereditary factors account for only a third of the population-level variance in female orgasm, however. Clue # 2: Most women report that they are more likely to experience an orgasm while masturbating than during sexual intercourse with a male partner, and importantly such masturbatory orgasms do not always hinge on simulating penile-vaginal sex. However, as University of Washington psychologist David Barash notes, “just because something (e.g., female orgasm) can be achieved in diverse ways (e.g., masturbation) does not argue against it having evolved because it is particularly adaptive in a specific, different context (e.g., heterosexual intercourse).” Clue # 3: Furthermore, educated women are more likely to report having masturbatory orgasms—but are no more likely to experience coital orgasms than are less educated women. Religiosity is another social mediator: religious women tend to have less frequent orgasms than nonreligious ones (or at least they report having fewer). Clue # 4: Using self-report data collected from college-aged American females, researchers such as Florida Atlantic University psychologist Todd Shackelford and University of New Mexico biologist Randy Thornhill have uncovered a positive correlation between frequency of orgasm and the physical attractiveness of male partners, with attractiveness being measured by subjective ratings as well as by indices of facial symmetry. Recall that, in “genetic fitness” terms, attractiveness tends to correlate positively with health and overall genetic value. Clue # 5: There is some physiological evidence that female orgasm leads to the retention of more and/or better-quality sperm among a single ejaculate. I don’t think I can put it any better than Birkbeck University of London psychologists Danielle Cohen and Jay Belsky: “During the female copulatory orgasm the cervix rhythmically dips into the semen pool, thereby increasing sperm retention (by about 5 percent) relative to intercourse without orgasm, along with the probability of conception.” But as Lloyd points out, most references to these classic “data” on the “uterine upsuck” properties of female orgasm derive from a single participant and were part of an old study done back in 1970. Nevertheless, tellingly, a woman’s “desire to conceive” leads to more frequent self-reported orgasms during sex, and female orgasms are also most likely to occur during the most fertile period of the menstrual cycle. Clue # 6: In a recent study by University of Groningen psychologist Thomas Pollet and co-author Daniel Nettle, Chinese women who were dating or married to wealthy male partners reported having orgasms more frequently than women whose partners made less. (“When having sex with your current partner, how often do you have an orgasm?” On an ordinal scale: 1=never ; 2=rarely; 3=sometimes; 4=often; 5=always .) That is to say, male partner income correlated strongly and positively with female orgasm frequency, and this income effect panned out even after the authors controlled for (ruled out) a host of extraneous variables, including health, happiness, education, the woman’s personal income and “westernization.” In any event, women may not be the only females in the animal kingdom whose orgasms are linked to the status and wealth of their male sexual partners. Japanese macaque females display the “orgasm-like” clutching reaction more often when they’re mating with high-status males. There’s no data yet on whether or not they also bite their lower lips in the process. psychologist David Barash: a vocal critic of Elisabeth Lloyd -argues that female orgasm “is a signal whereby a female’s body tells her brain that she is sexually engaged with a dominant individual.” -argues that female orgasm may be linked to male income because money (resources) is a reliable indicator of the male’s long-term investing in offspring and it may also reflect desirable underlying genetic characteristics. -all of this helps his argument that its a vital bonding roll which contributes to conception Can Porn Cause Erectile Dysfunction? Pt 1 -Ian Kerner, PhD, LMFT is a licensed psychotherapist and nationally recognized sexuality counselor -Sue Varma: psychologist -andrew cramer: neurologist -people like porn because its an instant gratification, this is why some replationships encourage watching it together -some men prefer porn over their partners -men go through great length to sneak porn -is there a significant impairment in your life caused by porn? -too much dopamine causes burnout/numbness/desensitize -over masturbation can cause the clinical term: idiosyncratic masturbation: masturbating at a friction and speed not proportional to intercourse which aclamates him to a new speed and friction of stimulation. This cannot be treated by pills because it does not stimulate the brain -you can tell youre past treatment if pills arent working or if you arent satisfied - the xyz technique: in situation x, when you do y, i feel z. -some ED treatment without medication: can take little as 4 weeks. Abstain from pporn and masturbation. Then after 4 weeks go back to normal without porn, masturbate in a different way, connect with wife, use non dominant hand to masturbate -50% of couples experience relationship/sexual boredom -70% of couples are up for looking for something new in the bedroom including porn Evolutionary hypothesis about testosterone results -elevated testosterone facilitates success in intrasexual competition and mating effort -reduced testosterone facilitates parental effort; already mated men need not incur cost of high T -the production of testosterone can compromise immune functioning -you dont want too much testosterone -men in committed relationships but who are having sex outside of the relationship (extra pair couplations) maintain high levels of testosterone Loss of desire: changes in sexuality 1. Complains about sex withholding 2. Frequency of sexual intercourse(declines with length of relationship) 3. Sexual satisfaction(decreases through time) 4. Arrival of a baby(lowers sexual disire) -if a man finds his partner super hot then the sexual satisfaction is maintained -moderating effect of mens perception of spous’s attractiveness